David Cameron Dunn was born in Loma Linda, California, in 1934. During a four-year active tour of duty in the Air Force (1952-1956), he first encountered and became interested in the German language. In 1958, taking advantage of the Korean War G.I. Bill, he began his higher education at Cornell University, receiving his B.S. in 1962, his M.S. in 1965, and his Ph.D. in 1970. Joining the Cornell Hotel School in 1964 as lecturer and admissions officer, he remained a faculty member there for more than thirty years, retiring in 1994 as professor emeritus. He and his wife, Elaine Joyce, just celebrated their fifty-sixth anniversary.